AIMIM leader bent upon playing hardline card
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi has a problem in being sensible, and is more at ease making remarks designed to inflame passions and divide society. He often does so for no other reason whatsoever, and converts a non-disputable matter into one of Muslim pride camouflaged as ‘freedom of expression' in a democratic and secular country such as ours. But of course there is method in his apparent madness. The idea is to appeal to the baser sentiments of his community members and enroll them as his political followers. It does not seem to strike to him that he has consistently failed in his experiment across the country, barring successes in his backyard in old Hyderabad. Given his brazen politics of hate and divisiveness, there cannot be a bigger joke than Owaisi calling himself a secular leader.
He has decided that one of the best (and surest) ways for him to project a secular and pro-Muslim image (the paradox appears lost on him) is to utter the exact opposite of anything that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh says — the merit of the RSS statement is of no consequence to him. One would not be surprised that if the RSS or its affiliates were to point out that sun rises in the east, the AIMIM leader might just contradict it! look closely at the latest controversy he has kicked off by asserting that he would never utter ‘Bharat Mata ki jai' even if someone were to put a knife to his throat. Owaisi was responding to an innocuous suggestion by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat that the younger generation should be made to appreciate the need to adopt slogans in favour of Mother India. He added that such a spirit should come from within, and without being forced. The AIMIM leader instantly saw political capital in contesting this advice; he is eyeing the Muslim vote-bank in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election scheduled for early 2017.
But he is off the mark in believing that such remarks will win him the Muslim votes. The community by and large has seen nothing wrong in saying Bharat Mata ki jai all these years since Independence, and is not going to be converted to Owaisi's extreme thinking. He was rejected in Bihar despite, or perhaps because of, running a divide-and rule campaign during the Assembly poll. The slogan in question is neither communal nor does it go against the religious tenets of Islam. His argument that no one can compel him to raise this slogan since the Constitution of India does not mandate an Indian citizen to do, is ridiculous, and was effectively panned by noted film personality Javed Akhtar, who, in his farewell speech in the Rajya Sabha, said that even wearing a sherwani is not mandated in the Constitution, yet many including Owaisi wear it. Incidentally, who is putting a knife to Owaisi's throat when Bhagwat says the slogan should erupt in a spontaneous mannerIJ
In talking of honouring the Constitution, Owaisi has forgotten the condemnable remarks of his senior party leaders including his brother Akbaruddin Owaisi — one of which landed the latter behind bars for a brief while. Some of these issues are still in court, and they can hardly be said to have been in keeping with the letter or spirit of the Constitution. Certainly, threatening a community with dire consequences is not permitted by the Constitution.